London Drugs Emerald Award 2013: Doing good is good for business

Retailer’s sweeping recycling program earns kudos

Workers at northeast Edmonton’s Global Electric Electronic Processing break down 50 pallets of old electronics each year from London Drugs’ Alberta customers.

Photograph by: Ed Kaiser
, Edmonton Journal

In a noisy warehouse east of Edmonton, an unidentifiable man raises a hammer over his head and brings it crashing down onto a vintage beige computer monitor. Bits of plastic shrapnel fly through the air. The man, clad in a respirator, protective eyewear, coveralls, hard hat and gloves, makes his living manually dismantling TV sets and computers at Global Electric and Electronic Processing Inc., a privately owned recycling facility at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. The city sends electronic waste and batteries here — this is where items go after you take them to a city ecostation — but GEEP has a host of clients beyond municipalities, including London Drugs, a Canadian retailer that’s doing a lot more than most businesses to reduce its impact on the environment.

London Drugs teamed up with GEEP in 2008, when it launched its “What’s the Green Deal?” sustainability program, an initiative for customers, employees and the planet. With a goal of diverting 95 per cent of its waste from landfills by 2015, London Drugs now works with buyers and suppliers to improve product sustainability, offers environmental education to customers in-store and online and, best of all, has a free in-store recycling program. Anyone can show up at one of the stores and drop off electronic waste, batteries, light bulbs and more.

London Drugs sends all its electronic waste from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to GEEP at a cost of about $100 per pallet. From Alberta alone, each year the company sends approximately 50 pallets to GEEP. But its sustainability efforts go even further; it also recycles customers’ Styrofoam, cosmetics and candy wrappers, among other things. No strings attached, either. In other words, you don’t have to buy something at the store to drop things off. The company estimates that it spends about $50,000 annually on its recycling program in Alberta.

The “What’s the Green Deal?” program is the reason London Drugs is one of two Emerald Award finalists in the large business category. The awards, administered by the Alberta Emerald Foundation, recognize outstanding commitment to environmental initiatives in this province.

“It’s good recognition for us to see that we’re doing our part in the environment,” says Perry Lubberding, a London Drugs store manager in Edmonton. “As a company we’re trying to do something good, and hopefully people see that as a (good) company to do business with.”

Lubberding, a.k.a. Mister Recycling, managed Edmonton’s Oliver Square location for many years before a recent move to the store in West Edmonton Mall. The Oliver location has an impressive 93-per-cent diversion rate for waste, from product packaging to the organics in staff members’ lunches. Yet as Lubberding sees it, it could do better still.

“I look at it as part of my job, the more we can do to help. I hate to see a lot of garbage go to the landfill. That’s my job, to ensure we’re doing everything, being efficient.”

The electronic waste that London Drugs sends to GEEP is sorted into component parts — copper, brass, steel, glass and circuit boards, among many other things — then sold as commodities. Many materials end up abroad, where they are reused to create new electronic products. The GEEP facility staffs about 70 employees year-round, and judging from the enormous collection of televisions, computer parts and other small appliances piled up outside the building, there’s no shortage of work.

Granted, London Drug’s electronics recycling program brings people in to the store, many of whom may end up purchasing a replacement electronic product. It makes business sense. “For us, if someone’s recycling something, they’re also looking at it in that they’re looking for something new,” Lubberding explains. The retailer even offers incentives from time to time: bring in your old iron and get a discount on a new iron, for example.

But it’s about reducing their impact more than anything. “It’s just trying to prevent products from going to waste,” says Lubberding. “That’s the big point from our perspective. There are a lot of companies trying to do their bit in terms of helping the environment, and this is what we’re doing.”

Lubberding feels good about the steps his employer has taken toward sustainability. The eco-consciousness has even rubbed off on him after hours. “At home I’m a recycle guy. My kids get a little annoyed with that. It ripples into my own life that way.”

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.